We were in Otavalo over the weekend – when the animal, produce and merchandise markets were on – and the streets were busy with locals as well as tourists.
We visited the animal markets shortly after sunrise, and were able to witness hundreds of cattle, pigs and some goats brought there to be sold or bartered. The pigs were the only ones which resisted this, and many had to be pulled along by their leashes, ears or tails. Andreas, whose brother-in-law works in an abattoir, later told us that pigs were highly stressed, and often died of heart failure minutes before they were meant to be slaughtered.
The merchandise markets had the usual array of jewellery, scarves, ponchos, hats and hammocks. What made them unusual was the fact that the stallholders did not hassle us to buy these. They occasionally invited us to browse through what they had, and were more than happy to pull from storage anything they thought we might be interested in, but were equally gracious when we left empty handed.
Indeed, we had been pleasantly surprised thus far, by how helpful Ecuadorians had been since our arrival. Those who spoke no English did their best to communicate with hand gestures (while rapidly speaking Spanish) and those who spoke English seemed to welcome the opportunity to practice it with us. Warren and I met the latter with suspicious stares and clutched our bags. We would then feel guilty after they left us with our belongings still intact. On hindsight, it was better to be cautious. As we discovered shortly after leaving Otavalo, not all Ecuadorians act honarably.
We visited the animal markets shortly after sunrise, and were able to witness hundreds of cattle, pigs and some goats brought there to be sold or bartered. The pigs were the only ones which resisted this, and many had to be pulled along by their leashes, ears or tails. Andreas, whose brother-in-law works in an abattoir, later told us that pigs were highly stressed, and often died of heart failure minutes before they were meant to be slaughtered.
The merchandise markets had the usual array of jewellery, scarves, ponchos, hats and hammocks. What made them unusual was the fact that the stallholders did not hassle us to buy these. They occasionally invited us to browse through what they had, and were more than happy to pull from storage anything they thought we might be interested in, but were equally gracious when we left empty handed.
Indeed, we had been pleasantly surprised thus far, by how helpful Ecuadorians had been since our arrival. Those who spoke no English did their best to communicate with hand gestures (while rapidly speaking Spanish) and those who spoke English seemed to welcome the opportunity to practice it with us. Warren and I met the latter with suspicious stares and clutched our bags. We would then feel guilty after they left us with our belongings still intact. On hindsight, it was better to be cautious. As we discovered shortly after leaving Otavalo, not all Ecuadorians act honarably.
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